New principals focused on fostering 'community'

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoThree new Dublin City Schools principals will welcome students back to class Aug. 20. Tracey Deagle (left) will lead Davis Middle School, Corrine Evans (middle) is taking over at Grizzell Middle School and Staci Lutz will lead Riverside Elementary School.

Three new principals will welcome students back to school Wednesday, Aug. 20.

In the Dublin City School District, Tracey Deagle will lead Davis Middle School, Corinne Evans will take the reins at Grizzell Middle School and Staci Lutz is principal at Riverside Elementary School.

Deagle comes to Dublin from an assistant principal position at Hilliard Darby High School, but lives in the Olde Sawmill neighborhood where Davis Middle School is located.

"I know some of the parents already because I live in the neighborhood," Deagle said.

"My son has been through one of the feeder elementaries, so I know a set of parents already, but I have also had PTO meetings over the summer and just had my first building leadership meeting."

Although she's new to the building, Deagle plans to use a mission statement established by teachers and former principal Brian Lidle: Empowering every student, every day to learn, lead and achieve.

"I was really fortunate that last year Mr. Lidle and staff walked through the process of establishing a mission statement," Deagle said. "It's almost my personal philosophy ... I will follow it closely in decision-making."

Communication with parents and the community will also be a major focus for Deagle.

"We are fortunate that we really are a community school building and I want to emphasize that responsibility to the community," she said.

"I see students becoming involved in community learning, or service learning, if you will."

Deagle also hopes to establish a student advisory group she can meet with throughout the year to get "the pulse of the building.

"I'd really like to focus on students seeing their unlimited potential," she said.

"As we grow them to be ready for high school I want them to know they are capable to achieve anything and are supported in an environment to achieve unlimited potential."

Evans will lead Grizzell Middle School after serving as assistant principal at Coffman High School. She's already spent time getting to know staff, students and parents at the school.

"I spent the last couple weeks of school from the day (Superintendent) Dr. (Todd) Hoadley named me as principal here," Evans said.

"To infuse myself into the community as much as I could, I met with staff, PTO leaders, attended the end of the year staff luncheon and was at the school a couple of times meeting everyone and getting to know the kids."

Evans has spent her entire career with Dublin City Schools and spent some time teaching at Grizzell 15 years ago.

"It's a fantastic building," she said.

"People are united in making the best learning environment for kids here at Grizzell. I'm thrilled to be in this position and ready for the challenge."

According to Evans, she shares the core values of former principal Dustin Miller.

"It's a very high-achieving building with a strong community and devoted teaching staff," she said.

"I will work to continue striving every day to make every student's experience at Grizzell strong from an emotional standpoint and academic standpoint."

After several years in the classroom, Evans said she wants to focus on learning for each student.

"I was a classroom teacher for 26 years so my passion is understanding and leading in the learning process," she said.

"The work I do here every day will be focused on what we can do for each individual student here to make the learning experience the best we can for them."

Lutz got a jump on getting to know students and staff at Riverside Elementary School; she was appointed interim principal in March.

"It gave me a great sense of feeling of the community of parents, teachers and students," she said. "It helped in preparing for the school year."

Lutz has been with Dublin City Schools for eight years, most recently working in the central office as coordinator of data and assessment.

"Back when I was just in the classroom I didn't know I wanted to go into administration," she said, adding that leading the summer Leadership Academy helped her come to the realization.

"I was able to co-chair that a couple of years and it opened my eyes to leadership and helped me realize you can impact a lot more students at one time in a leadership role," Lutz said.

As the new leader of Riverside, Lutz said her areas of impact will be in academics and community.

"Academically the biggest focus will be on the instrumental component of meeting the needs of all students," she said.

"My big goal is trying to get the community really involved and have a welcoming environment to parents and the community to come into the building whether it's for volunteering or opportunities for parents and the community to come in and have students show some work."

Lutz said she's excited to start the new school year at the helm of Riverside.

"I'm absolutely thrilled to have this opportunity and to get to serve the Riverside community," she said. "Riverside is a very unique place.

"There's something special the community has established here and teachers really fostered the environment."